Certain organizations dispatch large amounts of mail, usually on a periodic schedule. Examples of such organizations are: banking institutions, utility companies, insurance companies, credit companies, and the like. With such large quantities, these mailers normally pre-package and pre-sort their mail and, as a result, are given a lower postage rate by the postal service because of the time saved by the postal service. There are generally two ways in which such mail senders apply postage to their mail. The more common way is by use of a postage meter that is leased by the mail sender from a postage meter manufacturer with which the amount of postage required is applied to each mail piece. Inserter systems have been developed whereby inserts may be placed into an envelope, the envelope may be sealed, addressed and have a postage indicia applied thereto. The mail pieces may be weighed on the fly or individual weighing may not be required if all the mail pieces are of like kind, i.e., only a sample mail piece need be weighed. These acts of processing mail may be performed at a relatively high rate of speed.
A second method of mailing large quantities of mail pieces is the permit mail system. In such a system, the mail sender places a permit number on the mail pieces and prepares a manifest listing that shows the type and number of mail pieces being mailed on each occasion and the postage required.
With both such systems, inspection at the site of the mail sender is required. In the case of the postage meter, the lessor of the postage meter, i.e., the postage meter manufacturer, is required by law to inspect the postage meter at least twice a year to ensure there is no evidence of tampering with the postage meter that will indicate an attempt to obtain unauthorized postage. In the case of permit mail, large quantities of the same type of mail will be mailed at one time and the postal service will conduct an inspection to verify that the manifest listing accompanying the permit mail accurately accounts for the amount of postage due for the mail that has been processed by the postal service. This is accomplished through an inspection, on the part of the postal service of the records of the mail sender on every occasion.
Obviously, each of these two systems has certain drawbacks. In the case of on-site inspection of postage meters, with the large number of postage meters in use by large mail senders it is an expensive matter for the inspection thereof. Furthermore, postage meters that process large quantities of mail must be replaced frequently because of wear. With regard to the permit mail system, the shortcoming lies in the need of the postal service to send a representative frequently to the various mail sender locations to assure that the mail sender is accurately accounting for the quantity of mail being sent. Such a scheme is not totally reliable as is relies upon on-site verification using the mail senders records which are not secure.
Systems have been developed and are presently in commercial use for the transfer of funds from one meter being taken out of service to another meter being placed in service. This may occur when one meter is being removed from service and another meter is being installed in its place. For example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,745, the replacement may be to accommodate a change in models or replacement of an inoperative meter. Under existing commercial practice both meters are concurrently taken to the Post Office to effect: removal of one meter from service, installation of the new meter into service, and transfer of unused postage to the new meter.
The exchange of funds is currently accomplished as follows: A postal worker phones a data center, such as the Pitney Bowes Meter Resetting Data Center and (a) requests the meter replacement function (b) provides the customer account number, (c) provides the serial number of the meter being removed and (d) provides the serial number of the meter being installed.
For the meter being removed under the current practice, the postal worker also provides to the data center (a) an access code generated by the meter (b) the meter ascending register value (as displayed on the meter display) and (c) the meter descending register value (as displayed by the meter). The worker receives from the data center and records a combination provided by the data center such as a four digit combination.
The postal worker, for the meter being installed, provides to the data center (a) an access code generated by the meter to be installed such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,501 (b) the ascending register value (as displayed by the meter display) and (c) the descending register value (as displayed by the meter). The worker then receives from the data center and records a reset combination such as a digit reset combination to recharge the meter.
The postal worker clears the descending register of the meter being removed from service by entering the received and recorded reset combination from the data center. The postal worker then resets the replacement meter by entering the amount of reset as issued by the data center including both the amount of the reset and the reset combination.
It should be noted that one meter suitable for being reset in accordance with the above procedure is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,507 which is suitable for use in a variable amount recharging system such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,923.